vacation w/ Kids

My boys are seasoned Mooney travelers. This year I'm considering adding
a trip to either Victoria Island or Catalina Island. My boys are 9 and
10 so I'm not sure if either of these could actually be made
interesting. We've done so many trips, I'm having a harder time trying
new things. Last summer we went to Vancouver and the boys had a great
time canoeing and seeing the sites. Last March we went down to Mexico
again and got to pet baby grey whales. Last week we went to D.C. to see
the capitol. Would Victoria or Catalina Island offer anything
interesting to boys of this age?

-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...
My boys are seasoned Mooney travelers. This year I'm considering adding
a trip to either Victoria Island or Catalina Island.

Is it possible that you mean Vancouver Island? Canada has a Victoria
Island, but it's a long way away (Artic Archipelago) and may not be the best
place to take your children. California has a Victoria Island, but it's a
little chunk of land in a river near Sacramento; not much in the way of
tourism there.

If you mean Vancouver Island, then sure...there's lots of stuff to do there.
Victoria (the large city on the southeast end of the island) is smaller than
Vancouver, BC but has a wide variety of tourist interest stuff. Lots of
marine activities, nature, government (BC's capital), and the usual general
urban things. The rest of the island is more rural, but surely there's no
shortage of activities. Worst comes to worse, you're an easy flight or
ferry to activities elsewhere.

Pete

You assign high expectations to your sons, causing you unwarranted angst!
Have them fly commercial and rekindle their appreciation for the privilege
of having a Super Dad with your skills. They should be thrilled just
getting into the plane and going anywhere without being treated like
criminal/cattle on an ..."air-bus"... with cloth seats laden with the
lingering odor of a thousand sweaty-smelly butts having been sat in them,
attended by angry dowager amazons, whilst sitting next to snoring fat people
that haven't bathed in a fortnight. Then perhaps they might say: thanks
poppie, anywhere is fine with us!!


"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...
My boys are seasoned Mooney travelers. This year I'm considering adding
a trip to either Victoria Island or Catalina Island. My boys are 9 and
10 so I'm not sure if either of these could actually be made
interesting. We've done so many trips, I'm having a harder time trying
new things. Last summer we went to Vancouver and the boys had a great
time canoeing and seeing the sites. Last March we went down to Mexico
again and got to pet baby grey whales. Last week we went to D.C. to see
the capitol. Would Victoria or Catalina Island offer anything
interesting to boys of this age?

-Robert

We actually took our first airline trip last week. Our plane has been
down for a long annual (fuel senders, gov, prop, etc overhaul) so it
wasn't available. My youngest son (9) was too afraid to look outside.
He loves to look outside in our plane. He said something about looking
outside with so many people on board. I don't think we can understand.

Snorkeling at the marine sanctuary is pretty good a Catalina. They will
need wetsuits.

Mike
MU-2

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...
My boys are seasoned Mooney travelers. This year I'm considering adding
a trip to either Victoria Island or Catalina Island. My boys are 9 and
10 so I'm not sure if either of these could actually be made
interesting. We've done so many trips, I'm having a harder time trying
new things. Last summer we went to Vancouver and the boys had a great
time canoeing and seeing the sites. Last March we went down to Mexico
again and got to pet baby grey whales. Last week we went to D.C. to see
the capitol. Would Victoria or Catalina Island offer anything
interesting to boys of this age?

-Robert

That sounds interesting! Is the water really clear? Who would I contact
for more information? Do you have to pre-register? I would **LOVE** to
take the kids to do something like this. They are really into marine
life (they've visited numerous aquariums, etc) and they love to swim.
I've never actually been anywhere where the water was actually clean
enough to see stuff.

-Robert

Water clarity is whatever it is when you get there. It varies a lot with a
huge number of factors. The times that I have dived there it has been
pretty good. You can access the area from the shore. It is a kelp forest.

Mike
MU-2



"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
That sounds interesting! Is the water really clear? Who would I contact
for more information? Do you have to pre-register? I would **LOVE** to
take the kids to do something like this. They are really into marine
life (they've visited numerous aquariums, etc) and they love to swim.
I've never actually been anywhere where the water was actually clean
enough to see stuff.

-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" wrote

They are really into marine
life (they've visited numerous aquariums, etc) and they love to swim.
I've never actually been anywhere where the water was actually clean
enough to see stuff.

Go south, young man! There are tons of places in the southern regions, such
as the Mexican resorts, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Florida Keys, and
coastline, Bermuda. (not so south, but beautiful)

The list goes on, and the water is much warmer, with coral, everywhere.
--
Jim in NC

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...
My boys are seasoned Mooney travelers. This year I'm considering adding
a trip to either Victoria Island or Catalina Island. My boys are 9 and
10 so I'm not sure if either of these could actually be made
interesting. We've done so many trips, I'm having a harder time trying
new things. Last summer we went to Vancouver and the boys had a great
time canoeing and seeing the sites. Last March we went down to Mexico
again and got to pet baby grey whales. Last week we went to D.C. to see
the capitol. Would Victoria or Catalina Island offer anything
interesting to boys of this age?

-Robert


Geez, when I was that age I was excited to set the tent up in the back yard.

We actually attend 3 boy scout camps per year. At least one of them is
"Residence Camp" which means the boys get to do archery, BB gun
shooting (with NRA/BSA certified instructors) canoeing, fishing, etc. I
want to give my guys the best little-boy experiences I can. The funny
thing is that my boys think they are deprived because we don't allow
them to have video game systems and we restrict their T.V. access. We
also live in a town where they aren't the only kids in their class that
take lots of vacations per year.

-Robert